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Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: GRAND TOUR (2024)

Director: Miguel Gomes

Writers: Telmo Churro; Maureen Fazendeiro; Miguel Gomes

Cast: Gonçalo Waddington; Crista Alfaiate; Cláudio da Silva

SYNOPSIS

Edward, civil servant, flees fiancée Molly on their wedding day in Rangoon, 1917. His travels replace panic with melancholy. Molly, set on marriage, amused by his escape, trails him across Asia.

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Merry Christmas and happy holidays from the new classic (if that's a thing) CHRISTMAS, AGAIN (2014) and director Charles Poekel. He's hosting screenings ten years on for the film, saying it's found a new audience, and it's easy to see why. The film captures Christmas in New York City -- or at least what it looks like in reality versus postcards -- and starred talent that exploded in the indie film scene in the last decade.

It's the perfect time to catch up with its director.

In this episode, Charles and I discuss:

• what makes a great Christmas film and why CHRISTMAS, AGAIN fits that bill;
• how he got involved in filmmaking;
• the truly insane story of creating your own tree stand and running it for FIVE years as a gateway for the film;
• how the film is a great case study for his students;
• how the film heralded so much great indie film talent for the subsequent decade;
• that film v. digital is such a project-specific question;
• who should be attending film school?
• the "everyone is a filmmaker" phrase and what that means for students and emerging filmmakers;
• what's next for him and avoiding cultural references in a film so that it ages better, especially for Christmas films.

Charles' Indie Film Highlight: OBEX (2025) dir. by Albert Birney

Memorable Quotes:

"Every year there's a little bit of bump in people who discover it."

"People really appreciate the familiarity of Christmas tree sellers in New York."

"There'd be a lot of complications trying to shoot a film like this at somebody else's Christmas tree stand."

"And then the third year we shot the film at the Christmas tree stand while it was open. So we had people working there selling trees while we were shooting. Our actors would stop and sell trees if customers came up right."

"I was working documentaries. I'd never made a feature. I hadn't even made a fiction short since college at this point. My boss very smartly at the time was like, don't make a short, make a feature. And I was like I don't even know what I'm doing."

"And I've shot some stuff on an iPhone and even if someone gave me a million dollars, I wouldn't have shot it on 35 because it just wasn't the right thing to do."

"Shooting on film is more than just like an aesthetic look of a one frame versus another frame."

"Especially with cinephiles, we all kinda approach this as like, film is a holy thing that we have and let's treat it that way."

Links:

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Watch CHRISTMAS, AGAIN (2014)

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Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER'S POINT (2024)

Director: Tyler Taormina

Writers: Eric Berger; Tyler Taormina; Kevin Anton

Cast: Matilda Fleming; Francesca Scorsese; Maria Dizzia

SYNOPSIS

A family gathers on Christmas Eve for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own.

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Watch the film FLATHEAD, currently streaming on IndiePix Unlimited, and let me know what you think. It took home awards from the International Film Festival Rotterdam, among others, because it's like nothing you've seen before. It tells the intimate tale of Cass and Andrew making their way in working class Australia.

In my discussion with director Jaydon Martin, we delve into what is truly fiction in a documentary; his work at moving furniture to support his vision; and his advice for indie filmmakers embarking on their first feature.

It's astonishing filmmaking from the Australian, and I cannot wait to watch what's next.

In this episode, Jaydon and I discuss:

• the North American premiere for FLATHEAD and why he decided to make such an intimate film about his characters;
• how an award for the film at the Melbourne International Film Festival allowed him to stop moving furniture at night;
• finding his filmmaking system that works for him;
• how his career prepared him for FLATHEAD and his views on the concept of fictionalization in documentary;
• the unique docufiction nature of the film -- it's like nothing you've seen before;
• the dilemma about truth and how the film would be different if he had gone to film school;
• film v. digital;
• whether he'd use AI or not;
• the importance to him of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and how he views Australia's place in the world;
• whether the Australian government can do more;
• how indie filmmakers should view their careers;
• what's next for him and his advice from the festival run of FLATHEAD.

Jaydon's Indie Film Highlight: SONG OF ALL ENDS (2024) dir. by Giovanni C. Lorusso

Memorable Quotes:

"A lot of working class cinema or just media in general, it's always from a distance."

"That was all just, talking through and establishing trust and establishing a relationship where, you go, all right, we want to do an intimate scene. And Cass was like, yeah, just, come in boys in the morning, I'll be stark naked."

"That award has set me up. I'm working on two features right now."

"I think sometimes you get into a trap if you try to work for industry jobs, you get burnt out. If you sat in an edit room four days a week, it's hard to jump into your own edit."

"Mindless work is great because it's you can think about anything. You can dream away while you're moving a desk, moving furniture."

"That's how you capture intimacy because if there's three people, two people there, the camera just fades away eventually after a while."

"I've got a version of myself which is different to my partner's version of me or my friend's version of me or someone I work with. I've got different versions of myself in this world. Which is the most truthful version of yourself?"

"I'm a big believer in trying to create an aesthetic of now rather than an aesthetic of nostalgia."

"People get wrapped up about...this nostalgia about the tools."

"And realistically, I can't pitch an idea, go, all right, can you gimme money? And two years later I'll have something to show you."

"For any young filmmakers, I think EPs (executive producers) help a lot as well. Getting good eps that can get your film in front of programmers."

Links:

Watch FLATHEAD On IndiePix Unlimited

Follow Jaydon On Instagram

I'm so happy to return to the roots of the podcast by talking REQUIEM FOR A SOLDIER with filmmaker Jeremy Musher, currently crowdfunding on Seed & Spark. It is the story of a "Vietnam veteran who in his last weeks of service, found a Vietnamese soldier's diary, and 56 years later returned it to the soldier's family." We talk war films, fatherhood and filmmaking, and his sweeping vision for a topic that doesn't get as much love as it should: Vietnam veterans. And this film has the added pleasure of showing the Vietnamese perspective.

Let's get REQUIEM over the line. Happy holidays.

• In this episode, Jeremy and I discuss:
• the crowdfunding video and how he describes REQUIEM FOR A SOLDIER;
• what defines a good war film;
• why REQUIEM is a documentary rather than a narrative project;
• why they decided to crowdfund the film and use Seed & Spark specifically;
• the landscape for grants right now;
• the 60 day length of their campaign versus shorter options;
• the visual style he brings to documentary filmmaking and why they are weaving animation into the story;
• what he wishes existed for parents and fathers on film sets;
• the next few months for the film.

Jeremy's Indie Film Highlights: THE ZONE OF INTEREST (2023) dir. by Jonathan Glazer; LITTLE DEATH (2024) dir. by Jack Begert

Memorable Quotes:

"The interview we did with him to shoot this kind of teaser was a seven hour interview, and Peter just has story after story."

"It is the story of a Vietnam veteran who in his last weeks of service, found a Vietnamese soldier's diary, and 56 years later returned it to the soldier's family."

"I feel like financing a film is harder than actually making the film."

About one of the subjects of the documentary: "He struggled with a lot. He struggled with PTSD. He was an alcoholic, he was homeless, divorced arrested, and never lost the diary."

"I've never done a crowdfunding campaign before and I've always pushed it off until I found a project that I really cared about."

"[Animation] works so well for war...because I think that war is probably one of those things that you can't really understand unless you've lived through it and as somebody who hasn't lived through it, it's hard to ever fully understand it. I think love is honestly on that same spectrum."

"It is a really hard industry...to have kids in, be a filmmaker and to have kids in our industry. You get locked in to staying local. And I think there's a reason, Terrence Malick took 20 years off of being a filmmaker so he could watch his, so he could actually raise his children."

Links:

Donate To REQUIEM FOR A SOLDIER

Follow REQUIEM On Instagram

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Every Sunday, I'll post a quick video -- and podcast -- about an indie film from at least a year ago. Today's film: THE BROTHERS MCMULLEN (1995)

Director: Edward Burns

Writer: Edward Burns

Cast: Jack Mulcahy; Michael McGlone; Edward Burns

SYNOPSIS

Three Irish Catholic brothers from Long Island struggle to deal with love, marriage, and infidelity.

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Surely he didn't know it then, but his work in media in China made my guest, filmmaker David Borenstein, the perfect person to direct MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN (2025). It's a fantastic film following a Russian teacher "secretly documenting his school becoming a war recruitment center during the Ukraine invasion."

What David and especially his co-director, Pasha Talankin did was make a film at great personal risk because it's so cutting towards the Russian authoritarian regime. And astonishingly, as David shares in the podcast, he wants to do more of these stories in repressed societies.

Thank God there are people like David and Pasha. Denmark's nominee for best international film at the 2026 Oscars is an absolute gem.

In this episode, David and I discuss:

• the simplicity of the documentary and whether the overwhelmingly positive reaction surprised him;
• how he got started in filmmaking and his familiarity with heavily propagandistic societies;
• the difference between journalism and documentary filmmaking (he has an incredible answer here);
• the debates with his co-director about the concept of propaganda;
• how cool it would be to see a documentary or podcast on the making of MR NOBODY;
• logistically, how did the film happen?;
• how his co-director became knowledgeable behind the camera;
• advice for anybody interested in doing a project like this, especially when you aren't in the same place as your co-director!;
• how he edited the project and who got the line credit for it;
• how we can better support filmmakers in places like China and Russia;
• when the film will be available for streaming and the challenges of finding distribution in the United States;
• the clash between US and Europe distributors for documentary films;
• what's next for him.

David's Indie Filmmaker Highlight: Nathan Fielder

Memorable Quotes:

"The co-director, he actually responded to a casting call in the beginning. So in the beginning, we were filming him as a character."

"The very first time that I was involved with cameras of any sort was actually as a Chinese speaking host on Chinese TV."

"if you are a quite fluent foreign speaker of Chinese living in China, they'll find you after a while. You are a curiosity to Chinese audiences."

"[John Grierson] defined documentary in a very special way. He didn't define it as journalism per se. He actually called it the propaganda of democracy."

"There were so many points where I thought about quitting or walking away 'cause it was so hard. But don't give up."

"The way I work with editors is I make a rough cut myself and then I deliver it to editors to work for a little bit of time to challenge me."

"I think it's really important as director to be generous."

"[The film] is resonating with people in Russia and not necessarily people who are already part of the Russian opposition."

"I'm still really interested in getting into the big kind of countries that we don't understand enough, Russia and China."

Links:

Follow David On Instagram

Follow MR NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN

There's no hyperbole in this statement: my guest, native New Yorker and founder and managing principal at East End Capital, Jonathon Yormak, influences independent filmmaking more than any other guest I've had on the podcast. East End will have over 2.5 million square feet of studio space under management at the opening of his fifth studio in Los Angeles.

So not only does that space support a number of studio-level productions, the talent that works there is your next audio engineer, gaffer, cinematographer, or director...if New York and California remain friendly to U.S.-based production.

A big if...and a big topic in this extraordinarily special -- and important -- episode of the podcast.

In this episode, Jonathon and I talk about:

• what drew him to developing five different studios across Los Angeles and New York;
• the recent history of real estate/TV + film production, including the opportunities available in New York City;
• the role of COVID in building out the new studios;
• the expectations vs. reality of building in the entertainment world;
• the economics of building studio space after the strikes;
• competing for business, in the United States and abroad;
• the kinds of business his studios attract and why a production might choose one stage over another;
• the future of AR/VR and AI in studio space;
• how he stays current on news in this space;
• what he advises the New York City mayor and California regarding the film business;
• how he'd love Quentin Tarantino or Steven Spielberg to use one of his facilities.

Memorable Quotes:

"if you really look back the intersection...between real estate and film and TV production, it really began with Netflix and their explosion into digital content distribution and then spending an enormous amount of money directly on content creation."

"And so by 2018, 2019, you also had Apple and Amazon that had both started to get into the game. And in a couple of instances, Amazon in particular had leased some space for ten year terms. And so what you started to see was that occupancy was well north of 90% in almost every sound stage in the United States. And on top of that, there really had been no new development, with the exception of Atlanta, of new best in class film and television sound stages in the US for 25 years."

"To build anything in California takes forever."

"What happened is, the strikes hit and at the same time, Wall Street was putting pressure on all of the streamers to figure out how they were making money."

"So they started to go to places...that had very favorable tax incentive regimes. So those would be...the UK, Ireland, Canada in particular."

"Our view of [AR/VR/AI], it actually is supportive of higher stage occupancy."

"So if you wanted to film in Times Square, you had to actually go to Times Square. You wanted to film in front of the Eiffel Tower, you had to go in front of the Eiffel Tower. In facilities like ours, where you can get the height and the distance away from them, you can film that in a sound stage."

"From AI...being able to make a movie. I still think that, the human element...it's not from everything I'm seeing, it's just not able to capture that well."